The Events of the NWFTC in the 80's

Destin Log Rodeo 10K Run (80): Start and finish at Calhoun Park in Destin.

Okaloosa Island 5KM (80): This race featured a girl’s team competition between a local team sponsored by the Athletic Attic and a team sponsored by Running South Magazine. The local girls won 27 to 31. Local team members were Dolly Harrison - 17:59, Gay Weaver - 18:25, Laura Partin - 18:33, Lydia Waterman - 18:39, and Jennifer Rose - 19:26. Freddy Carley completed a successful double by winning his division of the Junior Olympics in Niceville in the morning and this race with a time of 15:27 in the afternoon.

Dues for 1980: $2.00 students, $3.00 adults, and ($4.00 family - $1.00 increase). You get a membership card, Newsletter, Bumper Sticker and membership in the RRCA.

Northwest Florida All Sports Award Winner (80): Freddy Carley, Niceville runner, was selected as the amateur athlete winner at this year’s NWF All Sports Award Banquet.

Billy Bowlegs Midnight Run 3-mile (81): The starting line was moved up to Chester Pruitt Park on Hollywood Blvd and finished in the J.C. Penny’s parking lot at Santa Rosa Mall.

Notes from President - Fred Carley (82): Fred stated that probably few know that the NWFTC regularly flattened the best all-star age group T&F teams Mobile, Al. had to offer, or that the club has competed several times in AAU National Age Group Championships, finishing 2nd out of 120 teams in the 1978 T&F Meet (Junior Boys), 5th in the 1978 Cross Country Meet (Jr. Boys) as well as winning numerous Southeastern Assn. and Regional Championships in boys and girls cross-country. He also mentioned that the executive committee initiated several actions to provide a club structure in keeping with new demands being placed upon it. A few are listed:(a)Adopt a Constitution and incorporate the club as a non-profit organization.(b). Apply for RRCA insurance coverage, This is a $1 million policy covering all club races at an annual cost of 25 cents per member. (c). Provide increased incentives for club membership. A few currently being planned are: (1) An intra-club Grand Prix by age groups. (2) Outstanding performance awards by age groups.(3)Inter-club team competition.

RRCA Southern Region X- Country Championship at OWJC (29-30 Dec 80): Fred Carley, the meet director, devised an interesting way of scoring this race. He reasoned that the winner should be the runner that could come the closest to the age group record for his age. Using this formula, the winner was George Collier, edging out Fred Carley Jr. by just four seconds.

Scholarships (80): The NWFTC awarded cross country scholarships to OWJC totaling $500 to Mike Dallman and Sherman Eller. Mike and Sherman will form the nucleus of the OWJC team, which is undergoing a rebuilding year. NWFTC President, Fred Carley is coaching the team this year.

Florida Sunshine Games (80): Eleven NWFTC athletes took part in the games held at Gainesville this year. In all they garnered 4 Gold and 2 Bronze Medals. An official mix-up in lap counting cost another Bronze in the Junior Men (14-15) 5k (Holm Bradley).

Summer Track Meets (80): Five track meets were held every other Thursday during the summer. For the third year a Grand Prix competition devised by Mark Flynn was included in the program. Points were based on Decathlon Tables. Keith Lee was the male winner with a total of 15,914. He ran consistently in all distances from 100 yards to 1 - mile. His nearest competitor was Russell Bentley with 10,975. The female winner was Nancy Grete with 652 followed by Rhonda Bentley with 360 and Nan Burns with 41.

NWFTC Handicap Race and Picnic (80): Dolly Harrison became the first girl to win the 3-mile handicap race at Lincoln Park in Valparaiso with a 17:34.

OWJC Scholarship 3 & 6 mile Race (80): Mike Cross and Lydia Waterman were the winners of the 3-mile run with times of 15:37 and 18:58 respectively. Keith Lee and Dolly Harrison were the overall winners of the 6-mile race at 30:53 and 36:54 respectively.

Sanddollar (81): Orville Maki set a Sanddollar record for age 62 with a time of 50:56

Track Club Banquet (81): The NWFTC’s first annual banquet was held at the Western Steer Restaurant in Niceville. Because of the larger than expected turnout or smaller than expected room, the rest of the meeting was moved to the Methodist Church. It was a very enjoyable evening for most of us. Several items of interest were discussed. It was decided to adopt a new club logo. Awards were given to the summer track winners Mike Zerressen, Sharon Kenton, and Tony Bradley. Special awards were given to John Oeltmann, Mark Flynn, and Ed Sears for their contributions to the club over the years.

Sunshine State Games-(81): Frank Kubisz, coach at Bruner Jr. High placed fifth in the 100 Meters and third place in the Master’s 1500 race. Stephanie Dorman took 2nd in the Women’s 100 Meter Dash followed by Cynthia Boling. Sharon Kenton placed 2nd in the 200 Meter Dash in the Open Women’s Division followed by Dorman in 3rd place. Other local runner and NWFTC members are as follows: Jim Baggett, took third in the Master’s 100 Meter Dash. FWB runner Mike Zerressen placed 7th in a field of 30 in the 5000 Meter Run. Keith Lee won 800-Meter Run.

Summer Track Meets- (81): The best times were as follows: 100 Yd - Sherman Eller (10.2), 200 Yd - Pat McLaughlin (23.5), 440 Yd - Keith Lee (52.1), 880 - Sherman Eller (2:08 ), 1-Mile - Mike Zerressen (4:37), 2-Mile - George Collier (9.00). Total Points: Mike Zerressen had a total of 13,918 points followed by Sherman Eller with 6,427. Tony Bradley led the Masters with 4,731 followed by John Everly at 3,545. Sharon Kenton led the Women with 3,693 followed by Stephanie Dorman with 3,050.

Unofficial Winner/Billy Bowlegs Midnight Run (81) Local favorite George Collier (Son-In-Law of Dave Deruiter)crossed the finish line first; however, a family member hadn’t registered him. George was out of town and arrived back just in time to jump into his running shoes and go at the sound of the start.

Autumn Breeze 11(81): Freddy Carley ran the 5-Km through old Valparaiso in 15:28 to beat Mike Zerressen who had a 15:46. Judy Stokley, despite a sore knee, ran a fast 17:55 edging out Dolly Harrison.

Northwest Florida Track Club Emblem (81): The NWFTC Sanddollar emblem is now official.

Mullet Festival Race (81): First year Mullet Festival Race was held on the OWJC golf course and running trails.

Grand Prix Competition (81-82): All track club members are automatically entered, you don’t need to sign up, but must be in club for points to count. You may count 10 of the 15 Grand Prix Races. The point scoring system has been simplified. (Ha,Ha). You may earn from 1 to 99 points for each race based on the following formula: Points = 100* (1- F/T). Where F is your finish position in the race and T the total number of finishers.

Tidbits by Mark Flynn (81): The club just received the latest copies of Running Records by Age and U.S. Distance Rankings. Local achievers in the age record book were Lou Gregory with multiple records for the upper 70's and Fred Carley Jr. Freddy holds the age 12 and 13 marks in the mile, with 4:44.4 and 4:30.3. The second book lists the top runners of 1980. Keith Lee as the 73rd fastest 10 - Km man with his 30:07 at Sanddollar. Former club member Ken Misner was 35th at 29:34. Sparkling Sanddollar performances put Russel Bentley in 2nd place nationally in his age group. Mike Zerressen was 14th in the next older group. John Oeltmann was sixth in the 65-69 age group. Dolly Harrison was the nations third fastest in the 10-Km for 1980.

AAU Junior Olympics, Southeastern Association X - Country Championship (81):

National Sponsor: Sears - Local Sponsor: Twin Cities Track Club Sanction: - Southeastern Association of the AAU. Place: Oak Hill Elementary School, EAFB, Fl Competition: Age Group, Sex & Distance. Born 1971 & later (M & F) - 3 Km, Born 1969 & 70 (M & F) - 3 Km, Born 1967 & 68 (M & F) - 4 Km Entry Fee: $1.00 per individual

Improved Newsletter (82): Newsletter is now being done on a TRS - 80 computer with a word processor and printed on a dot matrix printer.

Footnotes (82): Club members receive first copy of Footnotes in December mail. Footnotes is the quarterly publication of the RRCA

Super Jog-A-Thon (82): The track club has recently been approached by the promoters of the Super Jog-A-Thon to participate in their event which is a fund raising effort to support a Book Mobile. Since we couldn’t turn down a charming little old lady and due to the fact that our One-Hour Run was canceled, we have decided to make this a NWFTC event.

Race On (82): Keith Lee won three races within a 24 hour period on 3-4 July. The first race was a 2- Mile in Vernon Florida at 7 a.m. on 3 July with a time of 9:39. At Midnight he won the 5-KM Pensacola Midnight Run, edging out Mike Zerressen with a 15:02. At 7a.m. on the 4th he won a 4-KM in Panama City in 12:40. Keith said it was an interesting experience, but that 3 races in 24 hours are a bit too much.

NWFTC summer track program (82): Ron Allaire was the winner of the special Iron Man award for running the most races in the summer meets. He ran all. (36 races or 29.6 miles).

First Triathlon (82): Club member Sean McSheehy traveled to Tallahassee in late September for his first Triathlon. His fifth place finish in a field of 200 was the result a strong run and swim. The event opened with a 1 - Mile swim, 4.2 Mile run, and ended with a 13.2 bike ride. His overall time was 1- hour and 27 minutes. In October, Sean was off for Tampa where he opened with a slow 6 - Miles on the bike because of a flat tire, which was repaired during the race. A quick 2-Miles of running and 400 meters in the water enabled Sean to catch everyone except the winner. His time for this event was 39:20.

Seaside Harriers Women’s racing team (82): We now have a local women’s racing team, the Seaside Harriers. The team is sponsored by Erick Czornomski, manager of the Santa Rosa Mall Athletic Attic. He outfitted the team in Bill Rodgers black and silver shorts and singlet. Mark Flynn helped tremendously in organizing the team and accompanied the women to their first competitive effort, the Racing South Lady 10-KM in Tallahassee. The members of the team are as follows: Sarah Cramer (Hurlburt AFB), Suzanne Dee, Shari Parrish, (Pensacola), Gaye Heckman, Judy Stokley (Ft Walton), Ava Suydan (Niceville), and Lil Trimboli (Eglin).

Rocky Bayou 5 Mile (83): Wilbur Rollins from Montgomery, Al. took the lead at 1.5 miles from Don Henderson and Rob Schloemp to win in 26:06. Gayle Heckman led from start to finish for the women, winning in 30:23. Sarah Kramer was second in 31:36.

Saturday in the Park 5-KM-VALP (83): Jim Larson was the overall winner with a time of 15:57. Gayle Heckman won the women’s division with a 19:05.

Track News (83): Only four NWFTC members were able to attend the Florida State Masters Track Meet in Clearwater. Jim Stiles (21-29 age Gp) took second in the high jump at 5; 6'. Mike Mazzi scored in four events - 200 meters - 3rd at 24.0, Long jump 20' 5", 100 meters-6th at 11.9 and joined a conglomerate team for a win in the 400 meter relay in 43.9. Jim Nelson won the shot put for age 30-34 with a heave of 48'7' (16 lb. shot). Tom Tobiassen was the fourth man but his marks weren’t available.

Newsletter Editor (83): Ed Sears relinquishes his position as Editor of the Club after a 7 year stint.

Seaside Harriers (84): Four members of the Seaside Harriers (Claudia Schmitt, Lil Trimboli, and Meta Leckband, are leaving the Northwest Florida area. This Editor note: Sarah Kramer also left earlier this year; however, as most members know she returned, left and returned again.

Trailblazer (84): This race received some unsolicited publicity in the most recent annual edition of Runners World. Bob Wischia wrote an article entitled “Out of the Way and Off the Wall Races” to send you around the Bend. Trailblazer was one of several to be included.

Summer Track Meets (84): The club put on five track meets which attracted 94 competitors. Ironman prize winners were Ron Allaire and Lisa Morton. They tied for competing the most events over the entire series, finishing all thirty of the running events.

Destin LOG Rodeo Run (84): Club member Gary Droze captures Rodeo 10k run for second year straight. Droze was concentrating so hard on running that he nearly missed the finish line. I was so intent on following the sheriff’s pace car I ran right by the entrance to the park, said Droze. Whatever the little side trip may have cost him didn’t make any difference as he still beat his own Rodeo Run record in the process by three seconds finishing at 31:41. Droze became the second repeat winner since Keith Lee won in 1980 and 81.

Timberlake (1984): Timberlake was another great success, even if the Security Police were going to haul off Moe Powers. Seems someone called them and said we had 200 people blocking the road. Gary Droze ran a 1:11:41, running alone. That is about two minutes faster than George Collier ran in 1981.

Northwest Florida All Sports Award Winner (85): Local Triathlete Wayne Mc Sheehy was selected as the amateur athlete winner at this year’s NWF All Sports Association Award Banquet

24 Hour relay (85): The NWFTC held a 24 hour relay as an annual event for 7 or 8 years in the 1970's. Teams of ten or fewer alternated miles on a track, striving to run the maximum mileage. Twenty-four hour relays were a favorite of Runners World, which printed the top fifty teams of each year, along with the state record. Ocean City Elementary School topped the elementary record one year and one local team held the state record for a while. The idea petered out as runners discovered the work was harder than that of a marathon.

Valentine Marathon (85): A note from race director Ron Allaire. Ron made mention of one time that really stood out. It belongs to a quiet runner who doesn’t talk much but lets his feet speak. The time belongs to Jim Pope who overwhelmed the 50-54 group with a 2:58:24, passing many younger runners.

Trailblazer (85): Mark Flynn relinquishes his long rein as Trailblazer director. He just received a three- year assignment to Europe.

Letter of intent (86): Choctawhatchee High School’s Dona Griffin signed a letter- of-intent with Southern Illinois University. Griffin, a three-year star of the cross country and track teams, finished in the top five in the state cross-country meet last season. She’s one of the top long-distance runners in the panhandle.

Donation (86): Club makes donation in the amount of $100.00 has been made to the Okaloosa Country United Way. The proceeds were from this year’s United Way Road Race.

Newsletter Format (87): The newsletter takes on a new look, color (Green) and size (8x10).

TAC National Junior Olympics (87): Club members Maureen Scanion and John Oakes qualified and participated in the track meet in Provo, Utah last July. The club was able to provide some financial assistance to defray some of the cost for them to participate in the meet. Maureen and John both send a sincere thanks to all club members for their support.

24 Hour Run for Charity (87): A round of applause to Mike Murphy for the wonderful job he did organizing and directing the 24 hour Run for Charity that raise $2000 for the American Heart Association. Runners in the event were Sylvia White, Gregoria Marrero, Martha Sampson, Mike Murphy, Doug Blanford, John Noleen, John McNeil, Dave Henke, Cleon Fowler and Ken Wright.

Club President (87): The club membership elects the first female Prez.

Trailblazer (87): Once again the Trailblazer Cross Country Run made Running Worlds list of Off The Wall Races.

National AAU Cross Country Championship (87): Nine of twenty-six local junior high school runners representing the club placed in the top fifty at Birmingham, Al.

Newsletter Name (88): Track N Sand is the new name selected for the newsletter.

24 Hour Run for Charity (88): A round of applause to Mike Murphy for another wonderful job he did organizing and directing this year’s 24 hour Run for Charity for the Arthritis Foundation. Runners in the event were Sylvia White, Gregoria Marrero, Mike Murphy, Doug Blanford, Ken Wright Doug Blandford, Greg King, Dale Eiricksson, Anthony Glover and Don Foy.

International Paralympics (88): Club member Sherman Eller will be traveling to Korea this October as the assistant track coach of the North American team entered in the International Paralympics. His team is comprised of sight impaired runners.

TAC Representative, Region I, Florida (88): Coach Cleon Fowler, our TAC representative for Region 1 in Florida, is a meet administrator for the four National Track Meets this summer: U.S. Mobile Outdoor Championships (Jun), Jr. National Championships (Jun), Jr. Olympics in Gainesvilles (July) and TAC Master U.S. Championships in Orlando (Jul).

164 Mile Relay Race (88): Dale Eiriksson and his 11- member runners team from Ruckel Jr. and Niceville High participated in a unique 164 mile relay race in Georgia Lake to Lake Relay. Each person ran 3-5 miles over a hilly, challenging terrain. The team finished 26th overall with a time of 22 hrs 8 min 30 sec. Team Members: Dale Eiriksson, Chris Walters, Billy Mayville, Joey Kefer, Brent West, Dean Lambert, Scott Strittmatter, Anthony Burton, Daniele & Tracey Peno, and Diana Hebert.

Los Angeles Intercollegiate Track Meet and Marathon (88): Ava Johns (now Compton) was sponsored by the University of West Florida to participate at the Los Angels Intercollegiate Track Meet and Marathon on May 25th. She competed in the marathon with runners who will go on to the summer Olympics in Korea.

Peach run 8k in Clinton, Al (88). The McGee family ran away with the Peach Run 8k. Doris took 1st overall, Paul and Linda captured the 60+ division and Drew won the 0-9 division.

Donation (88): $100 was donated to Mike Gebhart, local windsurfer, who will be going to the Olympics in Seoul.

Guest speaker for November’s club meeting (88): Club member Sherman Eller was the guest speaker at the November Club meeting. He shared his experiences and association with sight impaired runners. Sherman’s association with sight impaired runners as a member of the paralympics has been going on for four years.

Cross-Country nationals (88): Five area runners competed in the Athletic Congress Junior Olympics National cross country Championships in Reno, Nev. Tracy Dewrell and Teddy Brannen completed in the intermediate boys division and finished 118th and 143rd, respectively. In the young women division, Jeanie Caughman came in 43rd and Nikki Alligood 66th. Paul Messerli came in 118th in the young men competition. There were 2,000 entries in 10 races, and to have all our kids place in the top 150 is great, said Choctaw Coach Cleon Fowler.

Coach of the year (89): Choctaw Track Coach and club member Cleon Fowler was voted Coach of the year for all Northwest Florida. This is a very prestigious award especially since he was selected by the area’s track coaches.

Pensacola Nike Before Christmas 5 Miler (89): NWFTC members competed in the first Nike Before Christmas 5 Miler in Pensacola. Patrick Tillman and Chris Aufderheide won the mens and women’s overall division in 26:05 and 32:17, respectively. Don Henderson, also of Fort Walton fourth overall, won the Masters division with a time of 27:23. Other track club members place and time are as follows: Tracey Pepon (16-19) 1st - 33:12, Donna Duty (35-39) 1st - 34:50, John Oakes (16-19) 3rd - 27:31, Gary Grilliot (20-24) 1st - 27:45, Tom Zachos (45-49 - 31:09).

Donation (89): The track receives a letter of appreciation from Waterfront Rescue mission for the $100 contribution to the Waterfront Rescue mission for the holiday season.

Legally Blind Runner Carlos Talbot / Valentine Marathon (89)...by Sherman Eller. Legally blind runner Carlos Talbot ran the Valentine marathon and won with a time of 1:10:28. Carlos, legally blind, set a world record for the marathon in Paralympics the previous Oct with a time of 2: 26. Sherman first met Carlos in 1986 at the World Championships for the disabled in Goteburg, Sweden to run the marathon and 5k.

Florida Relays (89) - University of Florida: Chris Wilson of Niceville High School won the 1600 - meter run at the Florida Relays held at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Wilson ran the race in a time of 4:14.35, Wilson raced against a field of the top 13 milers in the Southeast United States a Niceville school record. The Niceville distance medley relay team finished second in the AA competition. The team of Jamar Culbreath, Kevin Knox, Teddy Estey and Wilson finished the race in 0:47.75

5K T-Shirt Scramble Run For Cindy Jeselnik (1989): Transplant runner, and U.S. Transplant Team Member for the World Transplant Games. Place - Lincoln Park in Valparaiso. Fee $5

Record-Setter (89): Georgia Tech junior Michele Linihan, Choctaw 1986, recently set a school indoor track record in the 3,000 -meter run at the Florida open in Gainesvilles. Her time of 9:50:54 eclipsed the old mark by more than seven seconds, but was only good for third place. Michele will shoot for all-ACC indoor honors for the second year in a row.

Berlin Marathon (89): Track club member Sarah Kramer recently completed her 1st marathon in Berlin with a time of 3:01. Her 5K's are in the low 17's. Sarah's goal is to lower her time to somewhere in the 16's. Sarah is also a member of the Frankfurt Track Club. "Hotdog for her".

South Walton Sportsfest Half-Marathon (89): The new course record was doubly set as NWFTC President Chuck Paulk of Niceville and David Call of Meridan, Miss. crossed the line simultaneous at the 1:10:54 mark

Eagle Invitational(89): Chris Wilson of Niceville set a meet and course record winning the boys competition in 15:01.

Lions Club Top Athletes of the week (89): Tracy Dewrell and Keisha Wilson. Tracy, a Choctaw High senior and cross-country runner, finished in 3rd place in the District 1 meet and was 2nd in the county meet. Tracy’s best time over three miles is 15:43. Keisha, a cross country runner for FWB High finished fourth in the class AAAA state cross country meet after second-place finishes in the county, district, and regional meets. Also honored was FWB’s Sheilla Cherry, who won the girls cross-country championship. Sheilla has earlier won the Lions Club’s weekly award.

Cross-Country (89): NHS boys, FWB girls still # 1. The Niceville boys and Fort Walton Beach girls successfully defended their Okaloosa Country cross-country championships. The Eagle boys won for the 4th straight year. The FWB girls won for the third year in a row, edging runner-up Niceville 29-30 in a two-team race.

District meet (89): Niceville senior Chris Wilson ran the best time (15:24) at District 1-AAAA meet to lead the Eagle boys to the district championship and a berth in the regional meet. The Choctaw and FWB boys also qualified, placing second and fifth respectively.

Class AAAA state championship (89): Shiela Cherry of Fort Walton Beach won the girls Class AAAA state championship held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Cherry, a senior, finished in a time of 11 minutes, 48 seconds leading the girls to fourth place in team competition.

Triathlon Notes (89): Wayne McSheehy, Principal, Lewis Middle School was named to the 1989 Triathlon Today All-American Team. McSheehy, 57, was selected in the 55-59 year old category.

12th annual Bud Light Ironman Triathlon World Championship, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (89): LeaAnn Hermsen of Niceville finished the arduous journey - a 2.4 mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile marathon in over 12 hours to come in 821st. More than 1,400 Triathlete’s from 40 countries competed. Hermsen qualified for the Iron, one of the most grueling events, by finishing first in her age group (30-34) and fourth overall in the Iron Horse Triathlon, Springfield, Ill.